Weeb
by Africa Wilson
Summary: Jason Oates loves Anime. He loves coming home to it and using it to escape from his crippling unpopularity. But one day a mysterious package arrives on his doorstep, and it leads him on an adventure he only could have dreamed of. I haven't been updating this recently. I've actually been really busy but no, I have not forgotten about it! If you're interested in more, please comment
1. Gray

"Jason." A quick flutter of light crackled through the darkness.

"Jason! come on." The darkness retreated, revealing a beautiful woman...

"Jason! Wake up!"

I came to, shot up from my desk and stared face to face with a gray haired woman. _Not so beautiful after all_, I thought.

"Are we going to have another one of these years?" Said a sarcastic Ms. Broton, my biology teacher. "Try not to fall asleep in the future." I heard laughter echo all around me from the fifteen other students in my Freshman "Introduction to Biology" class. I peeked behind me at Kelly, who sat covering her mouth with a delicate hand.

I slouched back into my desk and scribbled something down in my notebook about the mitochondria ("It's the powerhouse of the cell," was how Ms. Broton described it). I discreetly pulled out my phone and found, unsurprisingly, no notifications.

Four hours later I was trudging home in the rain, mud splashing up against my light gray boots turning them a dirty brown. Gray clouds rained down freezing rain onto my sweatshirt-clad back. I had forgotten my coat at home that day and was living with the consequences.

But even the rain couldn't depress me any more than usual, it was Friday and I had a long weekend ahead of me. I planned to be up until six in the morning and sleep until six in the evening, it would be glorious.

I walked up my building's front steps and buzzed my apartment, "Who is it?" My mom asked through the intercom.

"It's me, Mom." She buzzed me up.

My mom was a cheery woman of forty, with curly brown hair with barely-noticeable gray mixed in. She would always tell me I was lucky I inherited my father's bright blond hair instead of hers, which she considered "boring." She wore big glasses and smiled a lot.

I said "hi," gave her a hug, and began to rush to my room, as was my ritual. She stopped me, "There's a package upstairs for you, one of your friends dropped it off earlier today."

_Friends? _I thought, _What friends?_ I shrugged and shut my door. My walls were covered in posters, all in Japanese (which I was learning because subtitles are always awful), and all of anime. I smiled at my Levi poster, he looked so badass. He was short, like me, but our similarities ended at that. I wouldn't last a day outside of Wall Rose. I couldn't kill a titan for shit. Also, and most depressingly, Levi wasn't real.

I looked down at my bed where a small gray package was sitting on my blue bedspread. I peeled off the packaging tape and opened up the cardboard flaps. I pulled out the bubble wrap, casually popping a few bubbles, and saw what lay inside.

It was a beautiful ring with a blue stone sitting in the middle. It glittered and reflected the light, burning my eyes. I had to re-angle it so it didn't flash. I slipped it on my finger and instantly recoiled. It burned like fire.

I moved my other hand to take it off, but I couldn't get a hold on it. The ring was dissolving quickly into my right ring finger, making it feel like my hand was dissolving with it. The blue stone sucked in, and a bright blue light shone from my hand. It pierced my skin like a brilliant star against the sky. My hand opened and closed automatically. I felt the rush of pain, yet at the same time another rush, as if I was getting stronger. I felt like I could do anything. It moved down my finger, across and into the center of my palm. It flashed incredibly bright for a split second before dimming and going out entirely. I sat there stunned, unable to think or breathe. I noticed it had stopped burning. And then, before i had recovered, my eyes closed and I sank to the floor.


	2. The Ice Queen

For the second time that day, I was awaked by a voice. "If you would be so kind, good butler, to investigate the young man who has so rudely chosen to materialize in my pigeon has informed me that Lady Ios will be arriving in twenty minutes time and we know how she disdains to be kept waiting."

A gloved hand grabbed my wrist, wrapping its fingers around my slender arm and yanking me into existence.

All around me was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. The tall ceilings, white and gold pillars, and a marble table in the center with a chessboard resting on it. I couldn't shake the feeling of deja vu. I distinctly remembered seeing this place somewhere.

"Who are you?" said the owner of the gloved hand, presumably the butler. He was a stout little man in tight black clothing. He had a bald head, dark eyes, and a permanent scowl.

"My name is Jason Oates," I said, "and where am I?

The man looked shocked, "Jason...Oates? Is it really you?" I noticed the man whose voice I must have heard, short and fat, look up with interest from the chess game. He seemed enthralled with me, yet all of the sudden nervous.

"Yes..." I said with hesitation, "my name is Jason Oates and I am definitely not in my home. So please, where am I?"

"The lands of the Lady Ios, Queen of this world and Lady of this house." said the other man, "and my name is Lord Balto, Lord of the three walls. Perhaps you have heard of me?"

The name did sound familiar, and I told him so.

He smiled, "Butler, take Mr. Oates away and bring me a cup of tea. The lady will be here any moment and we _cannot_ let her discover that our friend has finally arrived. The general should be coming here shortly, he will escort Jason from here."

"Yes, My Lord." the butler grabbed my wrist again and pulled me down a long corridor towards a beautiful arched doorway. He pushed open two giant wooden doors and dragged me to the outside, "Follow me, sir."

We rushed through a few yards of garden. I glanced behind me and saw the beautiful white palace behind me. We saw a grand wooden stable in front of us, "Lord Balto will notify the general of your arrival. He will explain everything once you two meet. For now, you must wait inside of that stable. You _must not_ make a sound. If you are found out, years of planning will go to 're lucky the general is celebrating at the palace after his recent victory. You might have had to stay in the stables for days if he was all the way at the battlefield, instead it should be only an hour."

_Battlefield?_ I thought, _I wish someone would tell me where I am._ But I didn't have time to ask as the butler shoved me into the stable.

The first thing I noticed about the stable was the awful smell. It radiated from the walls. The horse shit was omnipresent, destructive. It made it difficult to breathe. But after a few minutes I started to get used to the smell, and the heat. And then came the sound. From outside of the stable I heard the incessant _clip clop _of a horse. A carriage rolled behind it. The carriage was as beautiful as the as the palace it approached, yet it seemed to radiate out pure fear. A freezing cold wind chilled me to the bone. The water in the horse's dishes froze over. Just before I was sure I was about to freeze to death, the dark carriage rolled past, and I was safe.

"She has that effect on people," came a startling voice from behind me. I turned around and was greeted by a bald man with a face covered in laugh lines. He looked to be older, maybe around sixty, and I recognized him instantly.

"You're-" but he stopped me.

"Enough, Jason. I can imagine your confusion. We have to go now. You will ride on my horse and I will explain everything to you on the way."

_People sure don't stop to ask permission_, I thought as he hoisted me up onto one of the pre-saddled horses and kicked it. It reared up and shot forward.

We rode for a few minutes in silence, over the grassy hills, until we got to a small forested part of the country, then he began to explain.

"You know my name," he said, "as General Pixis, general of the Southern District."

I started to answer, but he stopped me, "Silent for now. Your questions will be answered."

"Long ago," he continued, "A century ago, three huge walls were constructed to save us humans from the threat of the titans. You know this, of course, from the ridiculous amount of anime I'm sure you watch." I turned red and nodded, almost slipping off the horse. "Good. Now here is what they don't tell you.

"150 years ago, before the walls were constructed, a new threat arose with the titans. She is the Lady Ios, the Ice Queen. She took this land and brought will her the titans. She killed our kings and united the people under herself, but she was not done yet.

"Everything you know as anime is her doing. What your kind, the humans of Earth, consider as fiction, is all part of our intricately woven universe. Ios controls our universe and makes our conflicts for the entertainment of your people. We do not yet know why, but she had devoted enough time to invading and sealing off the other parts of our universe that we must assume it is for a reason. The only way to enter your universe, and leave ours, is with the ring that is now in your protection. Two days ago, an unknown party stole it from Ios and used it, apparently, to get into your world and give it to you.

"The reason for this is well known. Ten years ago, a prophet, a young man I believe, predicted that a boy named Jason Oates would come to our universe and liberate us from the clutches of Ios. This is you, and you must help us. There are ways to cross through the areas. We ride to Castle Utgard now, where the Survey Corps reside. Captain Levi will escort you to the prophet, where we will find out what we must do with you to defeat Lady Ios."

I blinked.

"So Levi is real?"

Pixis stopped the horse and turned around at me, staring at me like I was an idiot. "That's what you took out of my speech?"

We rode the rest of the way in silence.

Two hours later, we galloped over the last grassy hill and through Wall Sina, "We're going to have to break here for the night. We have a few more hours until we reach the castle, but it's far too unsafe to walk around at night. Ios commands an army of shadow men, awful creatures that roam the lands after dark and devour travelers. We will need to take watch." Pixis volunteered first.

In my dream I was standing on a hilltop overlooking a beautiful river, and in the distance a fuzzy outline that I couldn't make out. The river flowed quickly and I saw animals running through the meadows and drinking the water.

The shape started moving towards me. The closer it got, the the more death spread throughout the land. Plants died, then animals, until the river itself dried up.

Then there was a great fire, I could hear all around me the screams of people, men, women, and children. The fire swept all around me, yet it could not touch me. I heard a woman's voice, but I couldn't understand what she was saying.

The entire world was in flames. The people still screamed that one word. And with a start, I realized it was my name.

"Jason! Wake up! They're here." Pixis shook me awake. At first, I saw nothing, but then I saw shapes moving in the darkness, shapes of pure shadow. "The shadow men are here."

Pixis drew his sword, it looked exactly like all of the swords I had seen in the anime, and pointed it against one of the shapes. The shape grew claws and scratched at Pixis, slicing his face with three clean streaks of blood. The shadow man grew to a ten foot tall hulk and smashed a rock next to me to pieces. A second shadow man appeared behind the first one.

Pixis was out cold as the shadow men closed in on me, "The riiiiiing," the first one growled, "Give ussssssss the riiiiiiing." It's voice was deep, guttural, and terrifying. I rolled out of the way of it's first punch. "The riiiiiiiiing," it said, "it givessssss it power."

Then, the second one's hand shot out and grabbed me, picking me up to it's face level. I saw it's sharp teeth, red eyes, smile.

Then its smile turned into a frown as it exploded into dust. I dropped four feet to the ground, luckily I landed on Pixis instead of any rocks.

The first shadow man couldn't react fast enough before it too disappeared.

"Move aside," I looked down at Captain Levi as he continued to speak, "General, are you okay?"

Eren appeared from the darkness too, and also ignored me, "Levi, stop. Worry about yourself for once." He put his hand on Levi's shoulder, but Levi brushed it off.

Compared to Levi, I was downright scrawny. He had big muscles, he was well built and rugged. I stood a little taller than him than I expected, but not much. Eren was much taller than me, and so was-

"Hi! So you must be Jason! My name is Hanji and I am so excited to meet you!" The scientist was the first of the three to pay attention to me. "Captain, did you really have to destroy them both!? I wanted you to capture them so I could study them." She was exactly how she was in the anime.

Levi picked up Pixis, "Eren, I need you to help me lift General onto the horse. Hanji, you need to take General. I will ride with Jason."

Eren signed as he picked up Pixis's body, "But sweetheart! We never get to do anything together anymore." I jolted upright, _did he just say "sweetheart?"_

"What are you talking about?" said Levi, "We cleaned the castle together like two days ago. How much quality time do you need?"

"Okay, okay," said Hanji, "break it up you two! We have to get Pixis back to the castle."

"Is he...?" I started to ask.

"No." said Levi, "The shadow men's claws have poison, but it's slow acting. We can cure it if we rush back to the castle soon. It's a four hour ride from here, and we can make it back in time if we hurry."

"If the castle was so far away," I asked, "why were you here?"

"After recent shadow men and titan attacks, we have started sending out night scouting parties once a week to explore and make sure we aren't in immediate danger. Or do they not show that in the anime?" He rolled his eyes.

Another horse ride spent in silence.

The sun was just coming over the shadow of the wall when we arrived at Castle Utgard. It was a ruin, yet somehow it was beautiful. We entered the castle and dismounted our horses. Levi carried Pixis in both of his arms and brought him into a small room towards the back of the castle.

"Hanji, this is you."

"Right," said Hanji. She picked up a bottle sitting on the shelf and sprinkled the contents on Pixis's forehead. "We get this stuff imported straight from Honnouji Academy. Nudist Beach makes it specially from a flower that grows there. We sneak it past Ios's border patrols at the walls that divide the regions. Every once in a while, the queen catches one of our smugglers, but she's never been able to successfully interrogate them because we equip them with a fast-killing poison."

"What border patrols?"

"When Ios took over our universe, she separated all of our regions with large fences and border patrols. This way people from our region won't, say, sneak into Ouran Academy and disrupt the story going on there. We do have ways of meeting with allies in other regions but we do it in secret so that Ios doesn't realize. One advantage of having such a large universe is that even our queen can't rule over everything."

"That makes sense," I said. It really didn't.

Hanji smiled at me, "Pixis is going to be fine, Jason. I think it's time for you to go to bed. Levi and Eren already left and you should too. Go down the hallway, take a left, a right, a left, another left, and your door is at the end of the corridor."

I stumbled along in the darkness, trying to remember where I was supposed to go. Left, right left, right, or was it left? I decided to take a right, walked to the end of the corridor and opened the door.

The room was pitch black, so I shut the door and rushed into the bed.

I flopped down and lay there for a second before I noticed the bed seemed to be bouncing. I heard a grunt, "Levi, stop for a second, I think someone is in here." Levi rolled over, he was shirtless and sweaty.

"Who the fuck is in this bed?"

"Oh fuck oh fuck," I said, "I'm so sorry, guys, I really didn't mean to." I ran out before I could hear their response. I corrected my mistake and got to my room without incident.

I lay in bed for a while, my exhaustion having disappeared after the traumatizing experience I had just had. An hour after I had come back to my room I heard a knock on my door and Levi walked in, "I'm sorry you had to see that, Jason."

"Well," I said, "it was my fault. I mean it's what couples do, right?"

Levi chuckled, "Yeah, I guess it is." He was wearing pajama bottoms, or whatever they were called in the 800s, and no shirt. He sat down at the foot of my bed and rested his hand on my shin. "You're a good kid, Jason." Levi leaned forward, gave me a joking wink, and tousled my hair, "Sleep well."

After that, I did.


	3. One Year Since the Worst Day of My Life

Three swift, loud knocks woke me up only six hours after I fell asleep (I was informed that they let me sleep in). Six hours after Levi had fatefully tousled my hair and started me on my epic quest to get him to, dare I be so stereotypical, notice me. But when I confronted Levi, asking him to spend some time with me today, he instead insisted that I go out and meet the rest of the Scouting Legion.

Hanji volunteered to lead me around, "Right!" She said, "We're going to start with meeting the people, like Captain said, and then we're going to go look at some of the more important parts of the castle, and go over plans for getting you to the prophet. How does that sound?" She didn't wait for me to answer, "Awesome! So do you have anyone who you're especially interested in meeting?"

"Not really," I said.

"Okay then, let's start with the cleaning team. We assign a team of scouts to clean that castle each day. But Levi chooses them, so it's actually everyone but me, Levi, Eren, and Erwin."

I laughed, "Is Levi really that into cleaning?"

She looked at me seriously, "You literally have no idea."

We walked through the castle. It was a pretty big place, so I figured I'd have enough time to ask Hanji a couple of questions, "How serious are Eren and Levi?"

"What do you mean?" She looked at me curiously.

"I mean," I said, "like, how serious are they? I mean are they really dating? Or are they just kind hooking up? Or on and off? What's up with that?"

"Why are you so interested in Captain Levi and Eren?" She asked. "Oh wait," she looked at me knowingly, "I understand. We're a little interested in the captain, are we?"

I was shocked, "No! I mean, I'm straight, Hanji," I chuckled nervously.

"This universe, it sorta makes people a little gayer for some reason. Nobody really knows why, but everyone is at _least_ bisexual here."

We finally came to a room filled with all the members of the survey corps I had watched for so long. And now they were in front of me!

"Hi." Said Mikasa.

_Oh my god, Mikasa just said something to me!_ I kept a straight face.

Hanji was bubbly as usual, "This is Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Reiner, Bertholdt, Conny, and Sasha. Ymir and Krista are on break, you'll meet them later."

They each greeted me in turn, all except Jean, who looked up at me, and then quickly went back to his sweeping.

I approached him, "Jea-"

Mikasa stepped in front of me and put a hand on my shoulder, "Not now."

I stepped back, but Jean pushed past Mikasa and me and rushed down the hallway towards another room.

Hanji looked quickly at me, "Excuse me, Jason. We can finish the tour later, but I really need to speak with Jean right now."

Mikasa immediately took a liking to me. She never spoke, but she kept a close eye on me, making sure none of the other members of the legion tried to fuck with me. I met Ymir and Krista later on in the day. Nobody came out and said that they were dating, but they seemed very physical and the implication of what happened on their "breaks" was clear.

The day passed quickly, but dinner provided quite a bit of excitement. Levi volunteered to sit next to me at the large table. Eren sat at his right and Hanji sat at my left. Levi kept his hand around Eren's shoulder the entire time, but halfway through the meal (it was beef), I felt something on my right leg.

I straightened my back, and discreetly checked under the table to see what was going on on my inner thigh. I wasn't surprised, though I certainly was delighted, to find it was Levi's hand. He gave me a curt nod.

_I guess you take what you can get when it comes to Captain Levi and romance_. I gave him the nod back.

"Can someone pass the salt?" Asked Levi. I reached to my left to grab one of the salt shakers on the table, and Eren grabbed another. As we simultaneously passed the shakers to Levi, our eyes met. Just for a second, I could see a spark of realization in Eren's eyes, as if he knew what was going on under the table.

Then Armin said, "It has enough salt on it already, Captain. I think you should spare yourself."

We put the shakers down.

"Right." Came a voice from the entryway into the dining hall. "I think we need to start discussing the plans for our movements towards the prophet."

"Commander!" Levi stood up at attention.

"Relax." Erwin was calm, yet still clearly an officer. He kept his back straight, his shirt tucked in, and didn't smile once.

All of the sudden, before Erwin could start talking, a large crash of thunder sounded from outside. Ymir, who had been quiet for the entire meal, looked up suddenly with an air of nervousness about her.

"Bad things are afoot," she said seriously.

Levi nodded, "I think it's best if we hurry up with dinner and discuss the plan. Ios is surely aware that we escaped her shadow men last night. She will send our enemies after us. The sooner we can escape and get Jason to the prophet, the better."

Hanji looked at him admirably, "We need to leave as soon as possible. I say tomorrow."

Erwin agreed, "Tomorrow would be best. I expect everyone to be ready to go at seven in the morning. We will make a break for the Tear then."

"What's 'the Tear?'" I asked.

Hanji answered, "It's the name for the breaks in the fences that Ios set up. It's how we travel between regions. There's one pretty close to here."

Mikasa spoke for the first time in the dinner, "I'm going to go check on Jean now." She got up and left. It was only then that I realized that Jean hadn't eaten dinner with us, but I knew better than to ask why.

After a few more minutes of general chatter, Levi declared the dinner adjourned. He told everyone to go to bed.

"I'm going to wander the castle a bit," I said.

The castle was dark and quieter than it had been the entire day. Every sound that I made echoed through the massive hallways. I heard a mouse skitter against the floor, but it sounded like an elephant in the vast, empty corridors of the ruins.

The wandering could have taken hours or minutes. I had no idea how much time had passed when I heard it. It was an incessant, pitiful sobbing coming from the hallway I was in. I padded through the darkness to the door from which the sobbing was emanating.

I opened it and found the darkness illuminated by a tiny oil lamp. Jean was sitting at the foot of the bed with his head in his hands. He was barefoot, with his feet dangling off the side of his tall bed. He wore a cloth shirt and shorts. He was also crying hysterically.

"Jean!" I said. "What's wrong?"

He looked up. His eyes were red, he had obviously been crying for quite some time. He opened his mouth to talk, but a crash of thunder interrupted him before he could explain himself.

He tried again, "I-I-I- This is one year since-since." He was choked up.

"Since what?"

He stood up, with a determined look on his face. He gathered himself and spoke again, "This is one year since the worst day of my life. The day when my best friend died."

_Marco_, I thought.

Jean continued, "I just can't handle this anymore, Jason. You don't know what you're dealing with. Ios can't be stopped. I don't know what the prophet was thinking when he said you could do it. All she does is make our lives hell, and it's for entertainment! She's killed so many of us. We are like flies to her. She swats us away and-and-"

I put a hand on his shoulder, "Jean. It's going to be okay. Ios can be stopped, and once I meet this prophet guy, I'm sure he can explain everything to me."

Jean looked up, "I just don't want Marco's death to be in vain. I'm tired of throwing people up against this war that can't end. I'm tired of _dying_."

I composed myself, silently vowing to not cry in front of him, "You're so brave Jean, I could never lose such a good friend and still go on. Each day you get up and you fight for your friends and they love you for that, and I know that Marco is looking down on you and smiling. He is thinking about you and how proud he is of you, because I'm proud of you, and so is everyone else. And I promise you that I will find Lady Ios, and I will make her pay for everything that she has done to you."

Jean looked up, tears welling up in his eyes again, "Thank you."

I was about to say goodnight when I heard a chuckle from the castle, and then a scream, cut off short. I recognized the chuckle, but no...it couldn't be...

I ran out of the room, Jean following me. He lead me through hallway after hallway, where we heard the sound of blade on blade, screams and shouts, male and female. But, over all the noise, was the insatiable chuckle.

And then we found her, clothed in blood, dueling an exhausted Krista.

Jean stared at her, "It's...you."

"Yup!" replied the half-blind Nui Harime. In her left hand she held her infamous purple scissor. She was easily parrying Krista's strikes with her scissor blade. She only looked at us when she spoke, deflecting Krista without so much as glancing at her.

"Lady Ios," she said in as cutesy a voice as ever, "sent me here to have a little chat with that Levi fellow!" She twisted Krista's blade out of her hand, and jammed her own sword into Krista's arm, causing an audible snap. "After your shenanigans with the shadow men, Ios wanted to make absolutely clear that your weak attempt at rebelliousness was as useless as this cutie's," she gestured to a bleeding and defeated Krista, "attempt to stop me! And unfortunately for her, the weak must die!"

Ymir leaped in front of her, "No!" She said, "Please! Don't kill Krista, she's so young and she has so much to live for. I've lived a good life, please, take me!"

Nui laughed, "Unfortunately, not today. Ios specifically requested I not take lives when I don't need to, so only the girl will be punished today."

Krista smiled through her bloodied lips, "Ymir, please. You need to bring down Ios, and you're better equipped than I am. If you die here, we can't win. We _need_ you Ymir." She took one last breath, "I love you so, so mu-" But her speech was cut short by a chuckle and a twist of a sword.

Ymir screamed in anguish, "You bitch! She was so fucking innocent! I will ruin you and your fucking life you piece of shit I _hate_ you!"

"Well!" Said Nui, ignoring her, "I guess I'd better get going! It seems like Levi is going to get here any moment now, and he does not seem happy to see me! I'm sure I'll be seeing you guys later! And when she comes to, give Ymir my regards!" She lept out the open window she had come from as Levi tore down the hallway.

"What the fuck is going on?" Yelled Levi as he and Mikasa came up to us, obviously out of breath.

Jean told him, "I was in my room talking with Jason when we heard a scream, and when we came Krista was, well, and Ymir was fighting off Nui."

"Harime!?" Levi looked furious, "Nui Harime is an insatiable cunt. Krista is dead?"

"Yes." Gasped a barely coherent Ymir. The rest of the legion had finally caught up, including Erwin, who took control.

"Alright, due to recent events, we need to get Jason to the prophet immediately. Ymir, Bertholdt, Reiner, Conny, Sasha, and I will stay here and hold up against Ios once she sends a larger army to take the castle. Levi, Eren, Jean, Mikasa, Armin, Hanji, and Jason: you seven go to the prophet. We will buy you as much time as we possibly can, but, in the case of our death, you will have to be prepared to fight off whatever Ios throws at you. Enough horses are prepared for you outside. Go, now."

We all swiftly proceeded down the hallway to the sound of Ymir's silent sobs.

"That was amazing," I said to Levi. "Erwin didn't even think about his own safety, he just risked his life and his friends' lives to buy us some more time."

"He is a very brave man," said Levi with clear admiration.

Five minutes later We were saddled up. Everyone had their own horses, except Armin let me ride on his, since I still hadn't learned how to ride.

"The Tear is about half an hour's ride from here. During that time there are some things I need to talk to you about concerning Ios's ring." Armin glanced at me seriously, "When you absorbed the ring, you gained more power than just the ability to transport between realms. Unfortunately, to transport, the ring needs to have permission from Lady Ios. She controls it by having a crystal in her palace under a spell. Normally she just constantly keeps the spell running, this is how the person who gave you the ring was able to escape and how you managed to get back into our universe. Once she figured out that you were inside, she appears to have turned the spell off, thus making sure you couldn't escape her grasp.

"However," he continued, "you should still be able to use some of the other magical properties from the ring. I heard, for example, that you were able to dodge the initial strikes by the shadow men with Pixis yesterday. This is something a normal person without training shouldn't be able to do. Also the ring is able to provide you with the ability to understand everything we say. Beyond that, I don't know the full extent of its powers, though I will observe you in action and see if I can deduce what they are."

I nodded and kept riding.

Half an hour later, as promised, we reached the Tear. It was still dark and we were on flat land. The sky above us was beautiful and starry. My hands started trembling.

The Tear looked like, well, a tear. It was a hole in the very existence of the world, a jagged cut in reality itself. Through it was a purple mist.

"This Tear," said Levi, "will lead us directly to the prophet."

"Who is he?" I finally got the courage to ask.

Levi smiled, "If we tell you before you meet him, you might not take him so seriously."

Armin brought his horse to a trot and we followed the others through the Tear.

"You ready?" Asked Armin. But before I answered, we were through the portal and onto the other side.

All at once, before my eyes had adjusted to the bright light into which I appeared, I heard a multitude of voices, "Welcome!"

A beaming young man stepped from the light. He was abnormally handsome, tall, and blond.

"My name," he said, "is Tamaki Suoh, Prophet of this universe. And this," he gestured grandly to the six other boys surrounding him, "is the Ouran High School Host Club."


	4. On the Brink of Destruction

Sleep had always been something I had taken for granted, but after living with little for two days, the bed at the Suoh mansion felt like a marshmallow. Tamaki had offered it to me and told me he would explain to me his prophecy after I rested. Normally after hearing about everyone talking about something I wouldn't want to wait to learn what was going on. For once, though, I didn't hesitate. I rushed into my room and collapsed onto my bed. Gay sex didn't greet me this time and I was out in an instant.

14 hours later I padded into the kitchen on some slippers I found under the bed. A quick peek at the clock revealed it was four in the afternoon. Tamaki was sitting at his table drinking tea and looking out the window.

When he heard my approach he turned around and his million dollar smile lit up the room, "Jason! I trust you slept well? When you're ready I'd like to call Levi in and we can discuss the prophecy together. I think it's time you heard it. Also, in case you were worried, I thought you'd like to know that Erwin and the rest of the legion managed to hold off a small army of shadow men last night with no casualties. Apparently Ymir was especially fierce."

That _was_ good news. I had been worried sick about them for the past hours. I didn't want the guilt of any of them dying on my behalf, "That's good to hear. And I want to know everything about the prophecy and Ios. What I know is that ten years ago you predicted a boy with my name would appear from Earth and defeat Ios."

Tamaki smiled, "Pixis has filled you in well, though technically I never said it would be a boy. There's one more thing you need to know about, though. Let me get Levi first."

Tamaki stood up to walk out. Never before had I seen another person move with such grace. All of the hosts were impressive, but Tamaki really stood out. His legs moved with power, yet also precision, gliding across the floor like swans on a lake.

There wasn't much to do in the kitchen, so I looked out the window while I waited for Tamaki to return with Levi. For the first time, I really got a good look at the mansion. The grounds were huge and I could see the members of the survey corps practicing outside. The other hosts had gone home after we met them, but Tamaki informed us they would be coming later in the week.

Tamaki returned with a just-awakened Levi. Levi silently walked in wearing a red onesie and I couldn't help but picture him as a small child.

"Ten years ago," Tamaki began, "when I was just six years old, my father took me on a tour of some of the oldest ruins in our world. One of them was an ancient temple, still inhabited by a few monks. Most people who came to the temple just wanted to see it as a tourist attraction, as did we. However when one of the monks saw me, he immediately asked my father if he could speak with me alone.

"The monk brought me to a different part of the temple and told me something I would never forget. He told me that I was special and that I could see things no one else could. He gave me a flower petal and told me to eat it and I would see the one thing I needed to see the most. I ate the flower.

"At first nothing happened, but after a moment the scene around me changed, and I saw myself standing in a field. In front of me was a silhouette of a figure with an ornate sword. They had it pointed at an unseen object in front of them, and the uttered those fateful words, 'My name is Jason Oates, toppler of the Ice Queen and Liberator of this world.' And it was then that I knew you would come.

"Of the people I told, few believed me, but some still held hope, and, well," he smiled at me, "here you are!"

Levi stood up and pointed a finger at me harshly, he still looked ridiculous in his onesie, "You are the chosen one, Jason Oates, and you must defeat Ios!" His words rang through the manor.

Tamaki reached into his pocket, "The monk told me that when I found you I had to give you a piece of the flower too, and you had to tell me what you saw. I only have two petals in my possession, and this one is for you."

After I ate the petal, everything went exactly as Tamaki described. At first, everything remained the same, Levi still looked stern and ridiculous, Tamaki was still overdramatic. But then everything began to change.

Within a split second, I was in a throne room. It was smaller than I expected, but I instantly knew who it belonged to. In front of me was a woman clad in white. She had frosty blue hair and stood easily six feet tall. She turned around at me and I saw she was beautiful. Her skin showed no signs of aging and her eyes matched her hair, a beautiful light blue.

She spoke to me, "Jason, it is high time we met. I've heard so much about you." A chill washed over me, "My name is Lady Ios, and I have heard rumors that you plan on killing me." She looked up at the ceiling and laughed a booming laugh, filling the air with cold. The ground beneath me began to shake. She pulled out her staff, a perfect white cylinder with a blue orb at the top, "The prophecy has not yet revealed itself in full. Remember that there is more to everything then meets the eye." The tip of her staff pressed against my neck, "Begone, Jason, and the next time we meet, let it be to cross swords."

The scene faded and I was back in the kitchen. It was empty and darkness came in from outside. A sleeping Tamaki sat at the table. _What did she mean 'the prophecy has not yet revealed itself?'_ I thought, _and how many hours have passed?_

Tamaki opened one eye sleepily, but once he saw me was up on his feet and fully awake, "You're back! You've been having your vision for twelve hours! Tell me, what did you see?"

"My mother," I lied, "I guess I just needed to see that she was doing fine without me."

Tamaki looked at me oddly, "Interesting...I would have imagined the flower would show you something more relating to our cause, but it knows best, I suppose. You must be very tired!"

I realized I was, "Yes, I'd better get to bed. Thank you for telling me the prophecy."

He nodded, "No problem at all, it is about you, of course!"

I was used to being interrupted in my bedroom, so I hardly even looked up when a deep rumbling from under my floor shook my bed and the floor opened up. A platform rose from the ground and a young girl in a yellow dress stood on top of it.

"Hello!" said Renge, "I was wondering if Tamaki was anywhere nearby?"

"I think he went to bed," I said.

"Aw, that's too bad! Could you please relay a message for me?" She didn't wait for my response, "Lady Ios has figured out that you've left Wall Rose. Though she doesn't know exactly where you are, if she ever finds out, you're welcome to use my tunnels!"

"What tunnels?" I asked.

"Well how do you think I get around everywhere so fast? My tunnels lead just about everywhere in Ouran! Even to the Tear."

"Ok, I'll tell him." I rolled over to go to sleep.

"There's no need for that," said Levi as he walked into my room.

"Can you guys please meet somewhere else? I really have to sleep." I said.

Levi ignored me, "Ios has already found our location. Nui Harime is twenty minutes away, and it doesn't look like she's planning on keeping low casualties this time. We need your tunnels now."

"Understood!" Renge's voice couldn't have been any higher pitched. "Mikasa, Tamaki, Armin, Eren, Jean, and Hanji are coming, too?"

"We're already here," said Armin.

Eren pushed me aside as he went up to talk to Renge, "Can you fit all of us down there?"

Renge nodded, though she didn't look to sure of herself, "Definitely."

Somewhere in the depths of the house, a window shattered.

Tamaki looked at Levi, "Twenty minutes doesn't mean what it used to, huh?"

"If we want to survive," said Levi, "we need to get into the tunnels _now_. Jason, get in first. Armin, you follow."

My heart was racing as I descended into the tunnel. A terrified looking Armin stood behind me while an equally nervous Renge blocked my vision of the path ahead. The tunnel was made of concrete and had fluorescent lights on the walls.

"We're about an hour away from the nearest Tear." Said Renge, "If we keep walking we should be able to make it." We started at a quick pace once Levi descended into the tunnel.

From above us we could hear the beautiful mansion being torn apart by Nui. With each smashing or crashing or banging, Tamaki whimpered in fear and sadness. But after about five minutes of walking we were off the grounds and we proceeded in silence for the rest of the way.

As promised, we came to a platform and a dead end an hour later. Jean helped hoist me up onto it, and once everyone else was on top, Renge pulled a lever and we began our ascent.

We appeared on top of a hill. To the left lay Ouran Academy, it's buildings beautifully illuminated by the rising sun. Below us was another Tear. It shimmered black against the light.

"We just have to head down that hill and we're home free," said Armin.

"Unfortunately, I just can't let that happen!" Came an unmistakable voice from the shadows.

Renge shrieked, "How did you even find us?"

Nui smiled, "I have my ways. And now, it's time for you all to die!" She drew her scissor and placed it against my neck. But before she could strike, a second blade ripped through her abdomen, sending a waterfall of blood cascading down the front of her bright pink dress. She screamed in agony and collapsed to the ground with the blade sticking out of her back.

Nui lay there for a second, we were all too stunned to speak, before painfully ripping the blade out of her spine and weakly placing it on the ground, "It's going," she grunted, "too take more than that to kill me!" She stood up, "But I have to get going anyway." The smile was back on her face and she looked normal again, "I'll catch you cuties later!" And she exploded into a puff of smoke.

A tall girl stepped from behind where Nui had been moments before and picked up the long sword that lay at her feet. She had light blond hair that went down to her waist. She wore jeans and a t-shirt, no makeup, yet was still beautiful. Her eyes were green like the grass she stood on.

Levi, the only one of us who didn't look shocked, asked her with a hint of sarcasm, "And who might we owe this pleasure too?"

The girl didn't detect his sarcasm. Instead she looked him squarely in the eyes, and said in a voice that rattled my bones, "My name is Jacyn Oates, toppler of the Ice Queen and Liberator of this world!"


End file.
